The Encyclopedia of Exploration is destined to become the standard work of reference for the history of world exploration, travel and colonization. The vast scope of the Encyclopedia of Exploration makes it a work unlike any other in its combination of historical, biographical and bibliographical data.

Published in five parts (Part 1: to 1800, Part 2: 1800 to 1850, Part 3: 1850 to 1940 (Oceans), Part 4: 1850 to 1940 (Continental), and Part 5: Invented and Apocryphal Narratives) it includes a catalogue of all known expeditions, voyages and travels for the periods covered, as well as biographical information on the travellers themselves, which places them in their historical context.

Fifteen years in the making, The Encyclopedia of Exploration will certainly be the first port-of-call for researchers, students, historians, collectors, librarians – all those who need to know about the subject. It has been a massive undertaking resulting in a work that extends to over 4 million words in approximately 4200 pages. More than 5100 major articles have generated index entries totalling more than 15,000 names of persons or ships mentioned in the text. Within the text itself there are about 10,000 cross-references between articles. Altogether nearly 50,000 bibliographical citations accompany the articles.

Ray Howgego's name is familiar to researchers in the field of exploration and discovery, and a number of his earlier articles have appeared on the Internet. The project for a major reference work first started as a catalogue of expeditions, voyages and travels, but its scope was soon extended to include biographical information on the travellers themselves, and often their historical background. At the same time a record of bibliographical references, both major and minor, was undertaken.

A considerable quantity of information in this book is presented here for the first time in English.